(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for collecting submarine operational performance data and playing back of such data, and more specifically, to a system and method wherein the participating crews and/or other analyzing personnel may review the performance of each individual crew and/or the performance of all mission participating crews as a team in near real time.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The roles and missions of fast attack submarines in the United States Navy have changed dramatically during the past several years. Where independent operations had previously been the focus of the submarine force, the emphasis today is on coordinated and joint operations. The complexities of littoral warfare, the advantages of a coordinated strike, the increasing threat of mines and the general transition toward joint operations have made it increasingly important for the submarine to operate effectively with other weapon platforms in variety of roles and changing types of conflicts.
To maintain an effective, well-trained submarine force which is prepared to operate in a variety of roles and conflict types, the Navy conducts a number of training exercises each year. One of the primary objectives of such exercises is to review the operational performance of a platform during the exercise including assessing system performance, weapon placement accuracy, tracking, tactical control, and the cooperation among forces. Timely flow of operational data to and from the submarine contributes to and enhances the value of training and tactical exercises. Specifically, efficient data flow supports timely ownship performance analysis (on board or at a shore facility) both during and after the completion of exercises.
Current methods for the collection and analysis of training data consist of manually downloading data from several systems onboard the submarines after they have completed the exercise and pulled back to the pier and gathering positional data from test ranges. After the data has been collected, pertinent data is extracted from each of the sources and merged to create a history of the exercise. After the exercise history is compiled, analysis products and detailed exercise reports are generated using data from the exercise history to provide feedback to the participants. However, each system onboard a submarine typically provides data in a different format and on different media than other systems which introduces delays and the possibility of errors. Additionally, some of the data gathered from participating submarines is contained in handwritten logs which may themselves be incomplete or illegible. Furthermore, delays and errors associated with manually transferring data using tapes and paper logs can cloud the data picture, making analysis more difficult for the shore facility.
With current methods, detailed exercise reports often arrive weeks or even months after completion of an exercise, and by the time of arrival, the crew is involved in other operations. Thus the report loses much of its impact. Additionally, during battle group exercises, battle group commanders often have unanswered questions about the location and actions of assigned participants and how they relate to their Ownship performance. Timely answers to such questions would improve the value and impact of the training exercises.
Thus what is needed is a means to enhance training and tactical exercises and to enhance reporting by providing near real-time evaluation and analysis of weapon platform and system performance.